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How the pro-Bush Catholic neocons conned the cons, and themselves
From the New Oxford Review, here they are, with quotes and citations, the neoconservative Catholic intellectuals who assured conservatives that George W. Bush would appoint anti-Roe nominees to the Supreme Court if he were re-elected in 2004. How any sentient person could have believed this is beyond me. Even in the 2000 campaign, it was clear from W.’s statements that overturning Roe was nowhere near the top of his agenda. The answer is that it’s not hard to sell people, if they want to be sold. However, to be fair to the conservatives, the picture is somewhat mixed, as W. did say repeatedly that he would appoint judges in the mold of Scalia and Thomas, and conservatives certainly had reason to believe him on that score. But the bottom line remains: given their ongoing support for Bush, how can these leaders and activists in the conservative Christian movement stand themselves? They have spent 30 years pursuing the anti-abortion cause, virtually to the exclusion of all other political and cultural issues, and now their man George W. has betrayed them, denying them the one issue they truly cared about, and they still loyally back him, as though their only true transcendent were not God, and not the moral law, but Bush himself. What is the source of the power that this unreliable politician has over them? As I said this past summer to a friend in the conservative movement, if these people are not going to stand for anything, they should get out of politics.
See VFR’s Archives page for July 2005 for more items on the significance of the Roberts nomination. Email entry |